Revision as of 13:12, 20 June 2017

North American box art.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, later re-released as Punch-Out!!, is a boxing game developed and published by Nintendo on the NES in 1987. It is based off Nintendo's earlier arcade game, Punch-Out!!. The original game features Mike Tyson as the final boxer, but after Nintendo's license expired, Tyson was replaced by Mr. Dream in subsequent releases.

I first played this game at a friend's house. Having no idea what I was doing, I believe I beat Glass Joe, but lost to Von Kaiser. After being taught how to dodge an opponent's punch and counter attack, I did much better. As we progressed, I remember us getting stuck on Great Tiger. I had my brother's Official Nintendo Player's Guide, which gives explanations for how to beat the boxers, but I couldn't interpret how to block his Tiger Punches. After we beat Great Tiger, I remember my friend's older brother calling me asking how to defeat Bald Bull's Bull Charge and reading him the hints over the phone. Later, we got to the second Bald Bull, and were amazed that he couldn't be knocked down, though we later found his secret. We had more difficulties with the second Don Flamenco, and his damn taunts.

I've played the game a lot since then and have analyzed the boxers patterns and discovered how to get stars on them. Now, I can routinely get to Mr. Sandman. I can usually beat him, but I have difficulties with Super Macho Man, and I have yet to beat Mike Tyson. I probably never will because I don't want to punish myself to become good enough.

Contents

Status

I own both Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and Punch-Out!!. I have beat every boxer except Tyson/Mr. Dream.

Review

Overall: 6/10

Best Version: NES

Good

The boxing mechanic of dodging punches and counter-punching is a great system.

The game gives you very flexible control over Little Mac and allows you to move faster as you become more comfortable with the moves.

The stamina stat was a clever way to prevent the player from just mashing buttons.

Rewarding the player's experimentation with uppercut stars is a good mechanic that rewards creativity.

While the boxing mechanic is relatively the same throughout the game, each boxer introduces a new element keeping the game fresh all the way to the end.

The large flicker-free character sprites were very impressive for the time.

The dialog between rounds gives the game more character, and the injured look on both you and your opponents was a nice touch.

Bad

The game is really racist in the way it depicts boxers. The Russian is a drunk, the Pacific Islander is fat with beady little eyes, the French man is weak, etc. Although, I have to give them credit for having such a diverse line-up.

Continuing after losing a match is setup weird. Sometimes you get a couple rematches before getting a game over, sometimes you get a game over the first time you lose.

The dodge, counter-punch mechanic becomes very strict later in the game, and there are few opportunities to just punch away, making the game feel less and less like a boxing game.

Ugly

Mike Tyson is too hard. Very few players have reflexes fast enough to beat him fairly, and it hurts the game.

Box Art

The original North American box art is pretty good, but Tyson's punch is obviously staged.

The Japanese release, which came out a week later, uses the same picture, just a little more focused on Tyson, but features better lettering.

The re-release with the new title features a painting instead of a photo. While I like the artist's style, Mr. Dream looks like a serial killer, and the ref looks like a drug addict porn star.

Documentation

Game manual.

Game manual revision.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 1.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 2.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 3.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 4.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 5.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 6.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 7.

Nintendo Player's Guide, part 8.

Nintendo Power, hints for beating Tyson.

Nintendo Power, another world circuit.

Graphics

Little Mac sprite sheet.

Glass Joe sprite sheet.

Von Kaiser sprite sheet.

Piston Honda sprite sheet.

Don Flamenco sprite sheet.

King Hippo sprite sheet.

Great Tiger sprite sheet.

Bald Bull sprite sheet.

Soda Popinski sprite sheet.

Mr. Sandman sprite sheet.

Super Macho Man sprite sheet.

Mike Tyson sprite sheet.

Mr. Dream sprite sheet.

Mario sprite sheet.

Training layout.

Detailed backgrounds.

Rings backgrounds.

Font.

Fan Art

Fan art.

Fan art.

Fan art.

Comic by Zac Gorman.

Fan art.

Fan art.

Fan art.

Personal Rankings

Here are the boxers ranked by how difficult they are for me to defeat them: